The Last Days of Judas Iscariot
Director: Catherine Weidner
Assistant Directors: Olivia Saunders and Zoe Williams
Scenic Designer: Yeaji Kim
Lighting Designer: Lilijana Branch
Costume Designer: Kerby Roenke
Sound Designer: Joanna Albanese
Charge Scenic Artist: Maddy McCarthy
Assistant Scenic Artist: Regan Witt
I lead a team of 10 artists of varying levels in executing Scenic Designer Yeiji Kim’s artistic vision for the show. The show was set in a a decaying court room to represent the corruption of justice and to emphasize the uncomfortably of Judas’s story .
After confirming samples with Kim, I trained by team on the techniques being used to execute the design. For the walls, we used join compound to create the dry wall texture, base base paint color to match the renderings, and two sets of age washes to create the look of wear and tear on the joint compound itself, as well as two more age washes to create the water stain looks throughout the piece.
For this particular show, the props team was in charge of painting the wood grin onto the furniture. However, I was still in charge of first creating and getting a sample approved by Yeiji Kim as well as training the props team on how to paint wood grain onto the surfaces provided.
Throughout the process, Witt and I worked closely with out technical director, Lavender Pysowski, to ensure the scene shop and paint shop had aligning schedules in order to get the show completed in time for opening.
In the spring of 2023, I was the Scenic Charge Artist for Stephen Adly Guirgis’s play The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Directed by Cathrine Weidner, in the Hoerner Theatre; Ithaca College’s 535 seat proscenium theatre. Production started in January of 2023 and ended March of 2023.
To start the process, I used Kim’s scale model and paint elevations in order to mix the paint and glaze colors needed for the show. I also used this time to budget and create a schedule for what needed to be painted and when. Additionally, I used these deliverables to determine what techniques would be used to create the textures represented in her work. Kim and I stayed in close conversations throughout the process of sample making to ensure that the techniques used stayed true to her artistic vision.
For the floor, we used a series of layering multiple techniques, such as spattering and scumbling, to make a washed over speckled concrete look. To match the rendering and keep a homogenized color pallet, we mixed the color of the blue walls with a payne’s grey. This allowed for the piece to stay cohesive while keeping that cold, dirty feeling that Yeiji Kim was going for in her design.
For the piece that our team called “Juda’s Lair”, Kim wanted a more aged and distressed look compared clean woodgrain texture treatment done to the other furniture. For this piece, we used two separate wood graining colors and a less consistent wood graining technique to create that aged look we were going for.
In addition to our artistic reponsabilities, Witt and I continued to work with out artistic team on scheduling their hours and rescheduling when needed.